3D Touch

You use your iPhone to type everything from notes, messages to emails. If your iPhone is your main communication device, you spend a surprising amount of time with the keyboard. But do you know about the 3D Touch gesture that will transform the keyboard into a trackpad? Or the fact that there’s a hidden one-handed keyboard mode? No? That’s what we’re here for. Read on to find out all the best tips and tricks for the iPhone keyboard.

1. 3D Touch Cursor

If you’re using an iPhone 6s and above, just press firmly on the keyboard to see it turn into a virtual trackpad. Then, you can swipe in any direction and the cursor will move accordingly. Selecting text on a touchscreen is hard. So is precise control over the cursor. This feature solves both problems.

You can even use this feature to select text. Once you’re in the trackpad mode, 3D Touch once more and now when you move your finger, you’ll be selecting highlighted text as well.

2. Shake to Undo

If you’ve just made a mistake, just shake your iPhone a bit and you’ll see a popup asking if you want to undo the text you just typed.

3. Save Time with Text Replacement

iOS and macOS have a text expansion feature built in. This is where you can expand any short text snippet into a word, sentence or even a paragraph. This can be handy if you need to type your address or a specific chunk of text frequently for your work. Once you create a Text Replacement snippet, it will sync between all your Apple devices automatically using iCloud.

Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Text Replacement and tap on the + icon. Type in the expanded text in the Phrase section and type the snippet in the Shortcut section. Tap on Save when you’re done.

Now, when you type the shortcut, it will automatically expand into the phrase.

4. Shift Key Gesture

If you want to quickly capitalize a single letter, just swipe from the Shift key over to any letter. When you lift the finger, iOS will input the key in a capital form. The rest of the keyboard will then go back to the normal mode. This is a neat way to avoid double-tapping the Shift key every time you want to enter a single capitalized letter.

5. Numbers Key Gesture

Similarly, you can swipe from the 123 number key to reveal the numbers and punctuation shortcuts. For instance, you can type in a question mark or a common quickly using this gesture.

6. Dictation

You don’t always need to use the keyboard to type. In fact, iOS has amazing support for speech to text. And it works really well. Next time you’ve got your hands full, just tap on the Microphone icon from the bottom row, speak and then tap the Done button to stop dictation.

7. Landscape Keyboard for Plus Models

If you’re using a Plus sized iPhone model, just switch to a landscape orientation when you have the keyboard propped up. You’ll discover a whole new range of keys. Depending on the app you’re using, you’ll get arrow keys, formatting keys and even cut, copy and paste functions right in the keyboard!

8. Disable Predictive Text

If you don’t like iOS’s autocomplete suggestions, you can turn off the Predictive Text feature. Tap and hold on the Globe icon and then tap Keyboard Settings. From this page, scroll to the bottom and then tap on the toggle next to Predictive.

9. One-Handed Mode

iOS 11 brings a new one-handed mode to the iPhone keyboard. Tap and hold on the Globe icon and from the bottom row, select the icon to dock the keyboard either to the left or the right edge.

You’ll now see a smaller version of the keyboard which is much easier to use with a single hand, especially on the Plus model. To go back to the full-width keyboard, tap on the arrow in the empty space next to the docked keyboard.

10. Use a Third Party Keyboard App

While they’re not as reliable as the default keyboard, third-party keyboards in iOS have come a long way. And the utility they provide outweighs the reliability issues. Our favorite third-party keyboard for iOS is Gboard. It gives you a Google search bar, gesture typing, emoji replacement, emoji search, GIF search and more, all in one keyboard.

After downloading Gboard (or any other third party keyboard), you’ll have to enable it from Settings.

Removing apps from an iPhone or iPad has always been an easy endeavor, and you can easily uninstall any iOS app from a device in just seconds. Of course iPhone X and 3D Touch iPhone models can still quickly delete apps from the home screen too, but because of some hardware features of those devices, deleting apps may appear like it works differently. Some users may attempt to delete an app on iPhone X or other 3D touch iPhone models and find that no “X” appears at all, or that the icons don’t jiggle, or that they feel a little buzz sensation and then find a pop-up menu instead of the “X” button to delete an app.

This guide will walk through how to delete apps on the newest iPhone models, including understanding how deleting apps works on iPhone X, and also offer some general tips on deleting apps on any other iPhone with a 3D Touch screen.

How to Delete Apps on iPhone X

Deleting apps from iPhone X can still be done from the Home Screen, and rather quickly, but there’s a few minor differences. Here’s how the complete process works on the devices without a Home button:

Tap and hold down on an app icon for an app that you want to delete from iPhone – do not press with any pressure *

After the app icons start to jiggle, tap the (X) button that appears in the corner

Confirm that you want to delete the app by tapping the “Delete” button on the ‘Delete app’ pop-up dialog

Repeat with other apps if desired by also taping their “X” over on the app icon, and confirm deletion as necessary

When finished, tap the “Done” button in the upper right corner of iPhone X screen next to the notch, or swipe up from the screen bottom to mimic a Home button

Perhaps the primary difference with deleting apps on iPhone X versus other models is that there is no Home button to exit the app deleting mode, where icons are wiggling and jiggling. Instead you either mimic the Home button to exit Delete / Move mode, or you hit the “Done” button in the corner of the iPhone X display next to the notch.

The other main difference in deleting apps on newer iPhone models applies not only to iPhone X, but also to all other iPhone displays with 3D Touch capability. We’ll discuss that separately since it has become a major point of confusion for some iPhone users.

How to Delete Apps on iPhones with 3D Touch Displays

* The 3D Touch feature can cause some confusion and frustration when trying to delete apps from iPhone models with 3D Touch screens. If you 3D Touch many app icons on iPhone, a little submenu of options for that app shows up, but no Delete option or no “X” button appears.

It is very important to just tap and hold on the screen to activate the app icon jiggle mode, do not physically “press” down with pressure otherwise you will activate 3D Touch on the iPhone display.

This 3D Touch press feature alone leads to a lot of confusion about deleting apps, not just on iPhone X but also other 3D Touch equipped devices like iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, etc.

Here’s how the deletion of apps works on iPhone with 3D Touch screens:

Find the app icon you want to delete on the iOS Home Screen

Tap and hold on an iPhone icon that you want to delete – do NOT press down with any physical pressure on the screen otherwise you would activate 3D Touch instead

Tap the “X” button to delete the app, then confirm you wish to delete the app at the dialog alert

Press the “Home” button to exit Delete Mode, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen if iPhone supports that gesture as a Home button replacement

3D Touch has a lot of great features available to it, but it can also be a confusing feature in and of itself if you don’t quite understand how it works or how sensitive it can be. You may find it helpful to adjust 3d Touch sensitivity on the iPhone display.

The big thing to remember with any 3D Touch equipped iPhone is that if you’re trying to simply delete an app, or even move one around the screen, you can not physically press down on the screen. Physically pressing down on the display activates 3d Touch. Just lay a finger on the app icon with zero pressure instead.

If you can’t quite figure out how this 3D Touch approach works, you can also choose to disable 3D Touch on iPhone models with the screen feature, which will allow for a more forgiving experience when trying to delete apps (or move them around on the Home Screen) because the display will no longer be pressure sensitive.

Note this particular approach only applies to select newer iPhone models (for now anyway) since the current iPad line still has a Home button, and also doesn’t have 3D touch. On iPad models and any other iPhone with a Home button or without 3D Touch, or with 3D Touch disabled, you can use the regular iOS app uninstall method without thinking about screen pressure, or Home button gestures.

And in case you were wondering, the methods outlined above works the same to delete any third party iOS apps as well as deleting default apps from iOS too.

Do you have any other helpful tips or tricks for deleting apps from iPhone X, or from any other iPhone with a 3D touch display? Share them with us in the comments below.

iOS is almost 10 years old. That’s a decade of updates and new features. Though, when you simply look at the Home screen of an iPhone running iOS 10, you might question yourself if anything has really changed much over the years. It has, just not in the most obvious, in-your-face way.

Apple is notorious for keeping things simple. That is a great thing – it allows for new users to pick up and iPhone and start using it without very many hiccups. But it also means that Apple ends up hiding pro level features behind long press actions and gestures. If you don’t have the time to discover all of them on your own, just read our exhaustive list below.

1. 3D Touch Settings Icon

For iPhone 6s and higher: I’m surprised by how many people don’t know that 3D Touching the Settings icon reveals the option to directly jump to the Wi-Fi, Mobile Data, Battery and Bluetooth sections. So you can quickly toggle Cellular Data or Low Power mode. This of course only works on devices that support 3D Touch – iPhone 6s and higher.

2. Turn Keyboard into Trackpad

For iPhone 6s and higher: Another one of the hidden gems is an old school trackpad hiding behind the keyboard. If you’re using an iPhone 6s or higher, just press deeper anywhere on the keyboard and you’ll see that the keyboard gets a frosted glass cover on it and turns into a trackpad. Now, without lifting your finger, swipe left/right and you’ll move the cursor left/right. Swipe up/down to move up or down the line.

The awesomeness doesn’t stop there. Tap deeper once again and swipe and now you’re selecting the text instead of moving the cursor. Awesome, right? One of the most annoying things on touchscreens – manipulating text, just got a whole lot easier.

3. Spotlight Trick from Notification Center

We told you about this trick that a Reddit user discovered a couple of months back. If you’re running iOS 10.2 or higher, go to any app and swipe down from the top to reveal the notification center. But do it slowly. When you swipe down a bit, you’ll see the Spotlight Search bar revealed. Swiping down a further will now be a bit sticky. Here, just release your finger and you’re directly into Spotlight search, with the keyboard already propped up.

This only works when you’re in an app though.

4. Flash Intensity and Quickly Disabling Flash

For iPhone 6s and higher: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the Control Center and instead of tapping on the flashlight icon, press deeper on it to reveal three different modes – low, medium and high intensity.

Also, there’s a trick for quickly turning off the flash without going back to the Control Center. From the iPhone’s lockscreen, just swipe left a bit to open the Camera view and release your finger. You don’t even have to swipe all the way through. Just the fact that you’re trying to open the camera view automatically turns off the flashlight. If you’re on iOS 9, try swiping up a bit from the bottom-right corner.

5. Backspace in iPhone Calculator App

There’s only a clear button in the iPhone Calculator app. But what if you want to just delete the last number? Simply swipe left or right on the numbers field to delete the last number.

6. Instagram 3D Touch and Swiping Between Pictures

For iPhone 6s and higher: Instagram already has one of the best implementation of 3D Touch. In the recent update, Instagram added the ability to post multiple photos in the same update.

Now, when you’re in the Explore screen, in the grid view, and come across a multi-image post, 3D Touch it to see a bigger preview. Just move your finger to the left or right and you’ll be able to see the other photos in the same update. Cool right?

7. Swipe on Shift Key in Keyboard

To quickly capitalize a single letter and go back to normal typing, tap on the Shifty key and swipe to the letter, then lift your finger.

8. Quickly Switch Between Apps

For iPhone 6s and higher: One of the new hidden 3D Touch features is related to the app switcher. Put your finger on the left edge and press deeper, now swipe all the way to the right edge of the screen. You’re now in the app you were using previously. Do this again to go back to the original app. This can be a really useful way to quickly and easily switch between two apps, when you’re looking up notes, or passwords from a password manager.

When swiping in, if you lift your finger midway, you’ll open the App Switcher.

9. Long Press Safari Toolbar Items

Almost every button in Safari has some sort of long press associated with it. We urge you to tap and hold all of the buttons to discover these features.

Long press the back/front buttons to get a detailed History list.

Long press the bookmarks icon to get shortcuts for adding a bookmark or adding the page to the Reading List

long press the tab switcher button for a shortcut for closing all tabs or to open a new tab.

Long press the refresh icon to request the desktop site.

10. Scroll to Bottom in Photos App

You might already know that tapping on the status bar directly scrolls you to the top of the page. There’s a similar hidden shortcut in the Photos app to quickly scroll to the bottom. In Photos app, this is especially useful as the most recent photos are at the bottom.

So next time you’re browsing around and quickly want to go to the latest photo, just tap between the icon space in the bottom navigation bar and you’ll be at the bottom of the screen.

11. Select Multiple Photos in Photos App

Another cool gesture in the Photos app is the ability to quickly select multiple images. When you’re in an album, tap on Select and then just swipe from one photo to next to select them all. The photos between from where you started and where your finger now is, will be selected. Just lift your finger and now can see the options to delete them, share them and more.

12. Swipe down to Dismiss

This is something you should remember to do anywhere you see a photo, or when you’re seeing a floating section or a card. Swiping down will dismiss the image or the card and you’ll be back to the previous screen. This works in Photos app, in Messages and in communication apps like WhatsApp. In the Mail app, just swipe down when in the compose screen to save the current message as a draft.

13. Move Calendar Event

You don’t need to go into the event and edit it just to move it up by an hour. In the calendar view, tap and hold the event, move it were you what and release your finger to save it.

Your Favorite Hidden iPhone Tips and Tricks

If you’ve been using an iPhone for a long time, I’m sure you have discovered little gestures and shortcuts that help you do things faster. Share your discoveries with us in the comments below.